After persuading Ali Saleh to step down as Yemeni president, Saudi King Abdulla got down to setting up a unified Yemeni military offensive against the Houthis threatening the Saudi border. Washington assigns higher priority to tackling Al Qaeda.

Al Qaeda is carving out a roomy operations base in South Yemen, while Iranian Al Qods officers are helping Houthi rebels take over the north. Talks with the opposition are at an impasse as President Ali Abdullah Saleh, still recuperating in Riyadh from an attempt on his life, insists on staying in power to control the transition.

The Arab revolts are resolving themselves into bids for getting rid of three rulers who refuse to step down, Yemen's Ali Abdullah Saleh, who survived an assassination bid and promises to return as good as new; Syria's Bashar Assad, whom the West allows to survive, and Libya's Muammar Qaddafi, who promises to outlive NATO's attempts on his life.

The Saudis plan to carve out a new Arab republic in southern Yemen under their thumb and let civil war divide the country in two. They have dumped Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh and US objectives in the country.